n.
- a spiritual being believed to act as an attendant or messenger of God, conventionally represented as being of human form with wings.
- a person of great beauty, kindness, or virtue.
- informal (especially in the theatre) a financial backer.
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(angels)
informal (among pilots) used with a numeral to indicate an aircraft's altitude in thousands of feet:
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we rendezvous at angels nine.
- informal an unexplained radar signal.
- a former English coin bearing the figure of the archangel Michael killing a dragon.
Phrase
- on the side of the angels
on the side of what is right.
Etymology
OE engel, ult. via eccles. L. from Gk angelos ‘messenger’.
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